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The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

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Manufacturer: Miramax
List Price: $7.99
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Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse—Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy’s mom finds out, she knows it’s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he’ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena—Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.


DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780786838653
ISBN: 0786838655
Label: Miramax
Manufacturer: Miramax
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 392
Publication Date: 2006-04-01
Publisher: Miramax
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Release Date: 2006-03-21
Studio: Miramax


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2)
• The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3)
• The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4)
• The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 5)
• The Mysterious Benedict Society


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have ever read!
Comment: This is one of the best books I have ever read. I didn't know much about mythology so I thought I would be lost. I wasn't because he explains the mythology. I could not put this book down. It is filled with action and adventure, not a dull moment. Starting book 2 hope it is good as well.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great story - fast paced and fun
Comment: I think the most surprising part about this book was how intense it was - it feels like a very fast read but as it turns out it's just so engrossing that far more time passes than you think!

I read it so that I could discuss it with my nine year old nephew. It's quite good and the perfect level for him - the names are tough and I agree with his assessment that it would be nice if they had a pronunciation key in there somewhere.

I do have one fear that he may take this as "gospel" truth on the Greek mythology but any classes he has in it won't be for years yet. Some of the characterizations are mis-matched to what we learned but overall it was really a great way to introduce the concepts and characters from mythology.

Percy is a great protagonist, with a clear sense of his own limitations and a desperate desire to overcome or at least compensate them. He takes them in stride and is very matter of fact about them, which will help kids who have some concerns, whether over their own struggles with spelling and reading or with their friends' struggles. I think it treats things like dyslexia and ADD and ADHD pretty respectfully without minimizing the necessity to overcome them or find ways to harness them.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Action-packed and funny
Comment: The Lightning Thief is the first book in Rick Riordan's excellent Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. In this book, the protagonist is twelve-year-old Percy Jackson. He has always struggled with learning disabilities and always gets into trouble without trying, leading him to attend a different school every year. As a sixth grader, Percy attends a field trip to a museum with his class from the prestigious Yancy Academy. Although he tries to behave, he manages to vaporize his despised math teacher. Even stranger for him, it seems like no one has noticed. A new teacher appears out of nowhere, and no one has ever heard of the old one.

After this, Percy and his mom take a trip out to Long Island. A fierce storm arises, and Percy and his mom get into their car. Along the road, they meet Percy's friend Grover from school, who seems to Percy to be there randomly, although Percy had thought Grover knew more than he let on. They get into more trouble, and leading to a fight with a minotaur. Percy's mother disappears into thin air, but Percy manages to escape to a safe place - Camp Half-Blood.

At Camp Half-Blood, Percy finds himself in a new world. The Greek gods that he studied about in school are real. His former Latin teacher at Yancy Academy is a centaur and Grover is a satyr. Percy, like all of the other campers, is a half-blood: one parent is a mortal and one is a god. Unfortunately for Percy, he does not know who which god his father is.

Percy eventually figures out from some characteristics he exhibits and a revelation that his father is Poseidon, the sea god. This leads him to become embroiled in a three-way struggle between Poseidon, Zeus and Hades. In order to fix things and save the world, Percy must go on a quest to the gates to Hades, located in Los Angeles. He is allowed to bring two friends: Grover, and Annabeth, a brilliant daughter of Athena.

The Lightning Thief is a very engaging book to read for two reasons. It is packed with action, the author also incorporates a lot of humor. I read it to my class this year, and they enjoyed it thoroughly. Several of the kids read the series on their own, and it got them interested in Greek mythology due to Riordan's seamless incorporation of the mythology into the story. I strongly recommend it!

Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good but not the next Harry...
Comment: I ordered this book because of a recommendation on Stephenie Myer's website. I've read other books that she's recommened and not been disappointed. I wasn't this time either! I love the way the author meshed greek mythology with modern days. How original! The first book of this series sets up the world Percy lives in quite well without being too much of a bore. The character development is fantastic and leaves you wanting to learn more. (at one point I found myself wondering which god would be my parent and I have to go with Poseidon!) I also found myself laughing out loud at many points in the book. Hades, while not in the book that much, had some pretty hilarious things to say!

The only negitive I can really give is that some parts of the book seem rushed. Our hero is only at Camp Half-Blood for less than a week before he's set on his quest. And the revelation of who betrays Percy at the end of the book was wraped up in 3 or so pages! Rushed or not though, the story was good and I'll for sure be picking up the next book!

Customer Rating:
Summary: Book Review: The Lightning Thief
Comment: The Review


I am involved in a Mother/Child(ren) book club. Our first meeting is in July and we will be covering The Lightning Thief. The twins received the very generous gift of not only this book, but the second book in the series, The Sea Monster, from their BFF at their recent birthday party. Apparently, there are five books in the series with the last one being released in May of this year. As you can imagine, they devoured both books and are begging me for the 3rd in the series. I discovered that you can purchase the 3-book series for $11.99 at Amazon.com for only $4 more than just purchasing the first book. So, I purchased the 3-book series as I had to read the book for the book club and would appreciate a fresh copy to enjoy (rather than the mangled one that was left in the wake of their reading destruction). (Note: I have a strange thing about reading books without a bunch of cracks, creases, torn pages, etc.).


Grover the Satyr
The 3-book set arrived and the twins are clamouring to read the 3rd book. I told them, not until I read it first because I want to read the book before it gets mangled into an oblivion. So they told me that I had to "hurry up" and read the other two. Now, I started reading The Lightning Thief on Friday night and finished it on Sunday evening. They are sooo mad at me for not reading it faster than that! After all, they read it in a day, yada yada yada. And, they kept interrupting me every 10 minutes to find out where I was at in the book. I would tell them and they'd say... "Oooohhh... that's a good part, but it gets even better!" The last 40 pages, they sat there with me and watched me read it and asked for updates at the end of each page. For goodness sakes!

I guess you can tell by now, they loved it.

So, it really doesn't matter much what MOM thinks of this book because THEY LOVED IT and THEY are the target audience for the book. From glancing at Riordan's website, I can see that this will be made into a movie and maybe video game, at some point. I can also sense that Riordan is getting A TON of mail from kidlets on the books. I can only congratulate him on his success at developing a book that both boys and girls learn something from and enjoy so greatly.


On Sher's "Out of Ten Scale:"

First, if you have to purchase a child birthday gift (ages 9-10+), I don't see how you could possibly go wrong with buying the 3-part series for $11.99. The child's parents will love you forever as they will get hours of peace and quiet. And, the kidlet will love you for taking them on an odyssey that they won't soon forget. LET ME REPEAT: Great gift idea at a very reasonable price!

If you are into reading YA Fiction, you just might enjoy this. What I personally grew tired of, and it's solely based on my personality in that I am not much into it, were all of the fight/battle scenes in the book. I'm not big into fantasy with swords and magic, etc. But, even that being said, I was entertained and I can say that I found this to be a good book. I'm just such a girlie-girl that I am the type who prefers Judy Blume to this type of read.

For the genre Fiction:YA, I am going to rate this book a 8 OUT OF 10 however, the twins rate this book a 10 out of 10. And, it is their opinion that counts!

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